International center opens to help hold Russian leadership accountable for aggression in Ukraine

Mon, Jul 3, 2023
Other News (AP)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - An international center opened Monday in The Hague to support nations already building cases against senior Russian leaders for the crime of aggression resulting from the country's invasion of Ukraine.

The International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine is the latest step in concerted worldwide efforts to hold the Russian leadership criminally responsible for its war against Ukraine last year, triggering Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

The center is based at the headquarters of the European Union's judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust. It will not issue indictments or arrest warrants for suspects. Instead, it will support investigations already underway in Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

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Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said in a statement that the launch was "a clear signal that the world is united and unwavering on the path to holding the Russian regime accountable for all its crimes."

He added that there is "unfortunately, a gaping hole in accountability for the crime of aggression in the international criminal justice architecture."